Top Ten Things I Liked About the Sequel Trilogy · 7:32pm Mar 10th, 2021
So it's not a shocker that I, like many others, are not big fans of the Star Wars sequel trilogy, and for good reason. Poor planning (seriously, take maybe two or two and a half years to plan things, not one), rehashing things that have been done, squandering cool ideas, not very strong characters or story, oh and very poor management. Can't forget that.
However, I'm going to be doing something rare today. I'm going to talk about things I liked from this trilogy. While a good chunk of it was just... ugh... there are a handful of things sprinkled throughout that I do genuinely like, and I do wanna talk about them. I feel it might make a good change of pace from the hate. Now I'm not saying this trilogy is good by any means, but there are it's fans, and I do understand a bit of why they like some things, but not all things. But we're gonna talk about things I liked in particular; whether it's characters, plot-lines, designs, new planets, whatever. It's a random as hell list! Just like me. 
10. Resistance Pilot helmets! 
This is one of those random things I liked, the design of the Resistance pilot helmets. I don't know why, but something about that has made me like 'em. Maybe it's their smaller design, maybe it's cause I like seeing paintjobs done on helmets, but I oddly like them. One of the few homages/nods to the original trilogy I'm okay with. We've seen Rebel pilots with custom helmets, so of course they're gonna have custom helmets too.
And I kinda wanna raid that locker. Gimme the helmets, dammit! Colorful helmets are awesome. Where's the crowbar?
9. This random f@cker!
According to the encyclopedia, his name is Carib Diss. I know nothing about him, but you know what, I like him. He is so strange looking, he actually kinda looks like an alien who could be in the world of Star Wars. One of the criticisms I have regarding the sequels (which I only now realized I have) is that most of the aliens are only new aliens, and pushed to the background; And the art department must have been poor cause the only color schemes are gray, brown, black, or just lifeless mush. Doesn't help that they only have two types; bloated potatoes and/or snout faces.
But here! This strange lookin' bastard who looks like he can snap your frickin' neck looks so out there, I honestly think he could be a Star Wars race! I hope this creepy thing made it off Kijimi and probably ate Porgs for breakfast or something 
8. Zorii Bliss
Of all the sequel trilogy characters, of all the new characters that were introduced, hamfisted, or introduced hamfisted, she was one of the few that I thought had the potential to be interesting. Now design is still weird to me, but it looks more visually interesting than type-2 Stormtroopers. Though it is hilarious to mock at some points.
Go Go Power Rangers!
You have the right to resemble the Rocketeer!
And despite how little she's in the film and how little she impacts it, I felt like she had potential. She's a masked warrior in a burgundy suit, who does heist operations. Plus she's living on a presumably cold as balls planet. If she had been introduced earlier on, or had been used in the 'Resistance' cartoon, I feel like more could be done with her, but no. And I can't tell if it's sad or just annoying that her bio in the Star Wars dictionary poses more interesting backgrounds and ideas for her than what we are given on screen. Also I like the concept art with her and the animal skin coat. Should have kept that in.
Either way, like her, hate her, I still think she was one of the few interesting characters that the sequels introduced.
7. John William's Score
If there's one thing that is always consistent with these movies, one good thing that always stays with these films, it's John Williams' score. He is a master of his craft, and he has composed some of the greatest scores in Star Wars. The opening theme, the Imperial March, the Force, Duel of the Fates, Battle of Heroes, Mos Eisley Cantina, the list goes on! And he's done some decent scores for this film as well. For me, the best one is the Resistance March. It feels like a more hopeful twist on the Imperial March, and I think it works well.
Something about this piece just has that sense of uplift and camaraderie that gives you that burst of motivation. This may had been used in Force Awakens, but I loved the usage in Rise much more. Here, it's played when the Resistance is prepping for one final showdown, you see pilots suiting up, ships are being prepped and rising up, crewmen are working as fast as they can to launch their boys in the air, and soon enough, a squadron of X-Wings, Y-Wings, A-Wings, B-Wings, the freakin' Tantive IV are rising up and leaving the planet on their way for their final battle. That was probably one of the few moments that got me hyped, just the music and visuals alone were awesome.
6. Ajan Kloss
Another jungle planet, but it's still nice, it's still nice to look at. And plus, I like how the Resistance integrated their base into the jungle, it looks nice. Just simply love this environment and design, that's all.
5. Last Jedi's Rey Is From Nothing Idea
Admittedly, I am still a bit iffy on this, but you know what, I do like this idea. One of the few things I liked from Last Jedi upon rewatching is the idea that Rey was from nothing and didn't have some special parents or lineage to be great. And you know what, that idea is a great idea. Cause that is true, you don't have to be from some special bloodline or celebrity or whatever to be great. Anyone can become great, but what matters is what you do and how you do it. Now I'm still iffy cause of all the contradictions, but what's done is done.!
4. Kijimi
Once again, solid design and environment work from the set designers. I love the cold winter setting mixed in with the sort of medieval rocky city with modern tech splashed in between. It just looks like a really nifty place, and it kind of reminds me a bit of Contraxia from Guardians 2, where Yonda and his boys are first seen. This just feels like a really interesting environment, and it's a shame it was underused. Also blown up, that too.
3. Exegol
The Sith seriously need to find a solid neighborhood, seems like they can never find one that works for them. First, they had Moraband, and Malachor, and now Exegol. I can't imagine how the briefings go with all their company leaves.
I will admit, I do like Exegol's design and atmosphere; it's dark, it's stormy, it just screams lair of evil. Even the sounds of the lightning flashes make this place look more ominous, although it is problematic when the flashes can give some mild epilepsy. Either way, this looks like a cool planet. Hell, something about the name just sounds fun to say. Exxxegoollllll. Exxxegollllll. Hehe.
2. CP30 and R2-D2
As side-lined as they were, these two were easily the most consistent characters in the entire trilogy. For all we see of R2, he's still a supportive member of the team, and when he's on screen, he shines. Same goes for C3PO, easily the most consistent character and I liked that he still made me laugh a few times, he's just so loveable, how can anyone not love him? Plus I like what they tried to do with him in Rise by giving him something of a noble sacrifice... too bad it was utterly pointless.
And once again, Anthony Daniels aces it as the character, so another big bravo to him. I will never not love these two characters, they are friggin' gods.
1. The final performances of Mark Hamil, Carrie Fisher, and Harrison Ford
As much as I loathed what they did to these characters, as much as I hated their wasted potentials, and it's something I will never understand... it was still nice to see these actors come back for one last time. The only thing I wish they did was actually have all three back together in the same room, but sadly that will never happen now cause Carrie Fisher is now passed away, may she rest in peace. And last time I checked, Harrison Ford was done with this shit. I don't know if that's his exact words, but I feel like that's kind of the attitude he had, and I can't say I blame him, I mean you got other stuff going on you'd rather be doing, I get it.
But even with that, it was nice to see these three perform for one last time. It shows that they still had it in them, and they could still pull off good performances even with the material presented to them. Harrison Ford, for as much as he didn't want to be back in this, he still gave it his all in Force Awakens so great job to him. Carrie Fisher, of course, is still a great actress, and I am glad she still did a solid performance given what she had to work with. Especially so for the Lucasfilm team (regardless of my feelings towards Rise) to still include her in for the final film so we see her one last time. And of course, Mark Hamill is awesome. He is an amazing actor, and of course he still pulls off Luke. I have no idea if Mark's gonna be doing more of this work (I know Harrison's pretty much done), but if he does come back, I'll keep an eye out.
And that's my top ten things I liked about the sequel trilogy. Is it great? No. Does it have problems? Dear god, yes it does. But I do like some little things here and there, hell some of these little things have given me inspiration. And hey, if you like or don't like this trilogy, it still gives us tons of things to talk about and make fun of Either way, I'm still gonna be lookin' for new Star Wars stuff (very excited for Bad Batch), and I hope you all still find some fun stuff to check out for the future.
And hey, if you want me to narrow down a specific 10 things I don't like about this trilogy, I'd be happy to do it. Having watched it again, I think I can narrow down my thoughts in a more direct, clear, and concise manner.
Hope ya'll have a great day. 
I always thought the sequel trilogy was great
Sadly hardcore fans don’t go for that idea
My favorite thing about it was actually competent Stormtroopers.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the good things of the sequel trilogy, Four. I'm glad to see some form of positivity about the new movies.
I too really liked things from the movies like Exegol, Kijimi and Ajan Kloss - and I really liked Zorii Bliss too!
Of course, John Williams' score was outstanding. He is king.
And good on you for singling out the work done by Mark, Carrie and Harrison. I think Harrison in particular really took one for the team, coming back for "Rise". From what I understand he wanted out of Star Wars back during Return of the Jedi, so yeah. That was good of him to come back.
John Williams is almost always a solid win for just about anything he’s involved with.
5472128
Hey, good on you for liking it.
I may not have enjoyed everything about those movies, but I do think the hate they get from *some* life-forms in the fandom is way, way out of proportion. They're movies at the end of the day. They're supposed to be entertainment, not religion.
5472138
True
I’ll always enjoy Star Wars sequel trilogy or not
Your reasons are sound in that they aren’t the underlying problem with the sequel series that I saw:
It lacked a coherent vision.
Force Awakens was a retread of New Hope and I was okay with because I was interested to see where it was going.
Then we pass the ball to someone else, who openly said he likes making fans angry.
The story takes a drastic turn and not in a way that made things more interesting or more established.
Then the third had to be a course correction.
The films looked good. The actors are good actors.
But this felt like they were just trying to recoup the cost of a franchise they just bought with a TON of money.
If they had waited. Made the Mandalorian, put out some new toys and merch, and perhaps a cartoon series or two, we could have built hype for the coming trilogy.
Above all else, they should NOT have insulted fans. Yes, we can be toxic, and whiny, and anal about stupid stuff. But this was not the way to go.
5472142
I think you summed it up perfectly.
I see.
I personally enjoy the Sequel Trilogy. I am well aware of its flaws, of which there are more than a few.
But I could say that about most other Star Wars stuff I find, particularly in the mainstream.
As far as I see it, Disney had acquired a gem of a franchise to work with and tried to hit the ground running...
And tripped a bit.
But they picked themselves up and carried on and I can respect that.
And I don't think Rise Of Skywalker would have been any better if it had gone through 2020. Hindsight, I know, but something like that was the last thing it needed.
I do find I prefer the prequel trilogy but that's largely down to nostalgia (I actually watched the prequels before the originals! ...My dad misread the TV Guide
)
I do actually feel the sequels are better-made than the prequels.
But a film with hundreds of different people working on it can have as many problems as a film with only one person working on it (In terms of creative control anyway)
Overall, while I think they are very flawed, nothing convinces me they're bad.
And I can appreciate Disney carrying on and trying new things.
I remember the days when a corporation could just buy the rights to something and sit on them for a decade before they noticed the deadline then churn out something only barely related. Horror Series and Action-Hero franchises are full of them.
And honestly, I think those who made those mistakes have been through enough so I'm just going to support what they do right.
Disney have not had an easy time of this at all and I feel that makes their continued efforts towards this all the more impressive.
The closest I ever came to finding myself not liking Star Wars anymore was before the Disney buyout and I recovered. So I'm not complaining.
May the force be with you.
5472128
I think it's decent overall.
I definitely give more points for effort than attainment but still, nothing convinces me its bad.
There are some films where I genuinely find the troubled productions to make a film more impressive than anything else and I think the Sequels Trilogy went through enough.
Mistakes were made and I hope lessons have been learned but overall, can't complain.
Hey, Four, was wondering if you were aware of the theories that Rian Johnson plagiarized much of The Last Jedi from multiple fanfics. I'm bringing it up because your #5 is one of the elements he allegedly stole. There was a Kylo/OC fic written right after The Force Awakens premiered which had lots of similarities to what ended up in Johnson's script. This included a scene where the OC tells Kylo that her father sold her for a drink.
5472185
... da hell?
I.. ju... huh?
5472187
I'll make a blog post about it
5472192
Hehe, okay. :3
That random alien actually kinda looks like a xenomorph without the big head. Look at those teeth.
Actually now that I think about it Zorii Bliss' helmet is kinda shaped like a xenomorph's as well. Imagine if she took it off to reveal she is one. And then just said hello and went on her way.
5472185
5472187
Okay, just breaching the waters here but a theory of plagiarism is still just a theory.
I've seen plenty of stuff on Fimfiction that curiously linked with what the show did later, including but limited to the character of Swarm, the Changeling Renegade, in the Equestria Noir series by Jacobony1.
Read Here For Details.
Sometimes people just have the same ideas. That can happen.
My feelings about Rian Johnson are mixed but I think accusing him of plagiarism from fanfics, accusations one doesn't have concrete proof of, does no-one any favours.
Obviously I don't think that was the intention here but...considering the kind of people this can attract, I advise caution.
Sorry to be pedantic. It's just something I feel quite strongly about.
Fans must act responsibly.
5472239
That’s fair. Sorry, it just sounded alarming to me, that’s all.
5472144
Thank you